Hillary Clinton Says Trans Issues Pose ‘Legitimate Concern’ for Women

Hillary Clinton has continued her unlikely TERF rebrand this week by claiming that trans issues pose a "legitimate concern" for cisgender women.

The former Secretary of State stopped by BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday to promote The Book of Gutsy Women, a profile of 100 extraordinary women co-authored with daughter Chelsea. After the Clintons sparred over transgender rights in an October interview with the U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times, in which the former stateswoman said we must be "sensitive" to transphobia.

Clinton returned to the same line of argument yesterday, urging patience for those who are still "trying to sort it out."

"I do think there is a legitimate concern about women's lived experience and the importance of recognizing that, and also the importance of recognizing the self-identification [of transgender people]," she said. "This is all relatively new. People are still trying to find the language for it."

"I think in the right mindset this can be understood," the 2016 presidential candidate added, "but it's going to take some time."

The comments are fairly interchangeable with last month's remarks, in which Clinton referred to trans rights as a "very big generational discussion" and claimed the subject wasn't "something [she] grew up with or ever saw."

When Sunday Times reporter Decca Aitkenhead asserted that there are women from earlier generations who may be uncomfortable sharing a locker room or dressing room with a transgender woman, the 72-year-old was said to have nodded vigorously in response.

"I would say that, absolutely," she said. "Absolutely. Yes."

Clinton's comments have been a boon to conservatives who have used them to exploit a wedge between trans-affirming progressives and gender-critical segments of the left. The right-wing news siteWashington Timescalled the backlash to her Sunday Times interview "unhinged" and a "completely understandable perspective, particularly for a woman of her generation."

Meanwhile, U.K. newspaper The Spectator cited the remarks as proof there are "indeed legitimate questions" about whether trans people should be recognized as the gender they say they are.

However, at least one member of the Clinton family gets it. Chelsea Clinton came out in support of transgender children during the Sunday Times interview, saying that we "need to be doing everything we can to support kids in being whoever they know themselves to be and discovering who they are."

The former First Daughter is also said to have shot a "furious stare" at Aitkenhead over the questions.

Her mother did not rule out a 2020 run in the recent interview with Radio 4, claiming that she is "under enormous pressure" to take on President Donald Trump in next year's presidential election following his surprise win in 2016. Whether she would throw her hat in an already crowded ring, she would not say.

"Never say never," she responded.

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